Islamic State Names New Leader After Confirming Death Of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Mary Margaret Olohan on October 31, 2019

The Islamic State announced its new leader Thursday after confirming the death of its former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

ISIS said al-Baghdadi will be replaced by Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi, the Site Intelligence Group reported Thursday. Site Intelligence Group monitors extremist militant groups on the internet, including ISIS.

The intelligence group reported that ISIS identified al-Qurayshi as the “emir of the believers” and “caliph.” al-Qurayshi is largely unknown outside the ranks of ISIS, The New York Times reported.

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News of al-Qurayshi’s appointment followed President Donald Trump’s Sunday announcement that al-Baghdadi died in a U.S. raid in Northern Syria.

“He died after running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way,” Trump said in his Sunday morning speech.

Al-Qurayshi’s death came after almost a decade as one of the world’s most-wanted terrorists. The terrorist became the leader of ISIS in 2013 and participated in aid worker Kayla Mueller’s brutal rape and murder in 2015.

DCwire features investigative reporting syndicated with permission from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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